S.Ossetian Official Comments on Georgian Peacekeepers’ Rotation

South Ossetian chief negotiator Boris Chochiev, who is deputy chairman of the breakaway region’s government, spoke out against the frequent rotation of the Georgian peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone and said that it is a violation of agreements, which envisage a rotation only once in six months.

According to the Russian peacekeepers, the Georgian side completed a rotation on January 9 and deployed about 200 servicemen in the conflict zone. The previous rotation was held by the Georgian side two months ago.
 
Chochiev said in an interview published by the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee on January 12 that through frequent rotation of the peacekeeping forces the Georgian side wants to give the opportunity to its troops to become familiar with the area of the conflict zone, “so that they could orientate better in case of an attack on South Ossetia.”

He also said that although the Georgian peacekeepers are part of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF), they refuse to obey JPKF command, which “questions the legitimacy of their deployment in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone.”

Boris Chochiev also commented on a proposal by the Georgian side to hold a session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) in Tbilisi by January 18-20 and said that it is impossible because of a lack of security guarantees and instead proposed to hold the session in Russia’s North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz.

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